Spurred by urgent demands that horrific abuse at Whiting Forensic never happen again, the state House of Representatives unanimously gave final approval to a series of reforms designed to increase oversight of the facility. The House vote was 148 to 0.
Mackenzie Rigg
Mackenzie is a former health reporter at CT Mirror. Prior to her time at CT Mirror, she covered health care, social services and immigration for the News-Times in Danbury and has more than a decade of reporting experience. She traveled to Uganda for the News-Times to report an award-winning five-part series about a Connecticut doctor's experience in Africa. A native of upstate New York, she started her journalism career at The Recorder in Greenfield, Mass., and worked at Newsday on Long Island for three years. She is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she wrote her master's thesis about illegal detentions in Haiti's women's prison.
Posted inHealth
Bills approved mandating ‘essential benefits,’ helping uninsured pregnant women
A bill headed to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s desk would give uninsured women the ability to sign up for health insurance after they learn they are pregnant. A second bill sent to the governor requires individual and small-group health insurance policies to cover the same 10 “essential health benefits” the Affordable Care Act mandates.
Posted inHealth
Senate passes bill increasing oversight to stem abuse at Whiting
More than a year after the repeated, cruel abuse of a Whiting Forensic patient was captured on videotape, the state Senate approved a bill that would create an independent task force to oversee the maximum security psychiatric facility and would make staff there and other state behavioral health facilities subject to fines or even criminal charges if they fail to report abuse.
Posted inHealth
House unanimously passes bill to shine light on drug industry
The state House of Representatives unanimously approved a comprehensive bill that aims to shed light on the murky prescription drug industry, which state officials say is a necessary first step to lowering expensive drug costs.
Posted inJustice
Bills on domestic violence, incarcerated women get final approval
The state House of Representatives gave final approval Thursday night to a bill giving an array of protections to incarcerated women, particularly those who are pregnant, and to a bill aimed at reducing instances when victims of domestic violence are arrested alongside their attackers.
Posted inHealth
To avert a strike, House boosts money for care of the disabled
The House Wednesday passed a bill aimed at heading off a strike scheduled for Monday by about 2,500 union members who take care of the disabled. The employees work for private agencies in group homes and day programs that receive state Medicaid funding. The bill now goes to the Senate.
Posted inHealth
Workers who care for disabled vote to strike May 7
The employees work for private agencies in group homes and day programs that receive state funding, with the majority of that coming from the state Department of Developmental Services. The strike vote is aimed at prodding the legislature to increase funding for these programs.
Posted inHealth
Clock ticking on a bipartisan scramble to curb drug costs
With only two weeks left in the legislative session, a Democratic lawmaker and the state comptroller are feverishly working to bring to the House floor proposed legislation that is considered Connecticut’s most comprehensive effort so far to control high prescription drug costs.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Union president: Workers have postponed strike — for now
David Pickus, president of SEIU 1199 New England, appreciates the value of the care provided to the disabled by thousands of Connecticut workers. But he’s not sure state legislators do. He’ll be finding out in a few days, he says, when he meets with state officials to determine whether they can come to wage and program funding terms that will avert a strike tentatively scheduled for next month.
Posted inHealth
After abuse scandal, CT lawmakers push to reform Whiting
About a year after cruel, ongoing abuse of a Whiting Forensic patient was revealed, the legislature’s Public Health Committee has reported out three bills aimed at reforming the state’s only maximum-security psychiatric facility by increasing transparency and oversight.
Posted inHealth
Bills to mandate health coverage die in committee but some support remains
The two bills that would establish an individual mandate in Connecticut failed to make it out of committee, but Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney said Wednesday he would consider reviving the proposal by offering an amendment to other legislation.
Posted inHealth
Home-care contract wins bipartisan support ahead of vote
A bipartisan coalition of Connecticut lawmakers and the governor voiced support Tuesday for a proposed contract that will raise wages, provide workers’ compensation and increase training programs for about 8,500 home-care workers. The House and Senate are scheduled to vote on the contract Wednesday.
Posted inHealth
CT bill would require that certain Medicaid enrollees work
A number of legislative Republicans are advocating a bill aimed at imposing work requirements for some Medicaid recipients while also doing away with exemptions from work requirements now allowed to some food stamp recipients in Connecticut.
Posted inHealth
CT ponders an individual mandate — and two vastly different penalties
A legislative committee aired two bills Thursday that would establish a state individual health care mandate and push back on Congress’s recent repeal of the Obamacare penalty, but the bills would impose radically different fines for those who fail to buy insurance coverage.
Posted inPolitics
Former hedge-fund manager enters governor’s race
David Stemerman, 49, a Republican, emphasized his outsider status and outlined an agenda he said “career politicians and career insiders” would not enact.